Adventure 7
Departure After finishing their task with the Bear Tribe in Ygvolla, the party heads to the Dock of the Deer Tribe to seek passage back to Agria. They immediately find the Indigo Star, captained by the Dwarf, Fredrick Durin. He agrees to take them back, since he didn't fill his ship up on cargo and the government of Agria usually pays well. Erisi River They travel across the ocean without incident. Upon perusing the journal of Elwin Blackwater, they discover that Magnus was the first volunteer for the experiments out of five, meaning he is the last Weredragon left, so by default, the head of the Dragon Tribe. Upon crossing the ocean, they head through the Mouth of Hygra and down the Erisi River. They are only a few days out from the capital when they reach a small block in the river. Treant That Breathes Lightning They block consists of various trees being tossed into the river and the remains of two large ships that were crossing each other at the time of the attack. The few remaining survivors of the attack from both ships (four in total) recount that they were attacked by what seemed to be Treants. However, one of them was breathing lightning, so they weren't sure what it was. The party resolves to track it down and stop it. Fredrick Durin says it will be a few days before they clear the wreckage, so they have time. Path of Destruction The party easily follows the track of this creature north, a large tree leaving a wide path and also various scorch marks from the lightning. They eventually follow this path as it heads by the village of Hillgrove. One of the last remaining residents, Lelund, details how the forest to the northwest, the Pavwood Forest, has come alive with rage and various creatures from it have been terrorizing their village for weeks. As he talks, the village is attacked by a Shimmerling Swarm, which the party dispatches. Helmund resolves to finally leave, making the village a ghost town. After discussing several possible ways to either draw out the Treant or just burn the forest down (and dispatching a random undead Owlbear), the party continues tracking the creature into the forest. Experiments in a Cave The party follows the track into the Pavwood Forest and eventually thew path goes by a mysterious cave. It doesn't seem to go into the cave, but their scorch marks show the creatures may have something to do with the cave. Heading in, expecting the worst, they walk into the cave to discover a Gargantuan (if I had to describe its size) Spider in the cave. The party dispatches the creature (and collect some of it's posion). They discover this cave was a site of experiments by none other than Elvereth Mondathia, the leader of the Dragon Initiate. The spider and the tree had been injected with some sort of Dragon Blood concoction to see how they would react. The spider grew as was expected, but the tree turned into a lightning breathing Treant, and the creature was so filled with rage that Elvereth Mondathia decided to cut his loss and abandon the experiments, leaving his journal behind. The spider obviously continued to grow after Elvereth left and got trapped inside the cave. The Treant went on to inspire this rage within the rest of the Pavwood Forest, causing them to attack and terrorize the surrounding area, like the village of Hillgrove. Cutting Down the Treant The party eventually finds the Treant, who creates two Treants to fight alongside it and attacks the party. Luckily the party is able to dispatch the creature, making the other two Treants revert back into regular trees, before the creature could breath lightning on them. After dispatching the creature, the party heads back to the river, discovering that Fredrick Durin and his crew had cleared the obstruction in the river and were ready to leave. The party gets back on board the Indigo Star and continues on their way back to the capital.